MacPherson relief at rescue
St Johnstone midfielder vows not to be in drop battle next year
ST JOHNSTONE midfielder Cammy MacPherson admits relief was the overriding emotion as the Perth side secured their Premiership safety with a second-leg play-off victory over Inverness on Monday night.
Saints ran out 6-2 winners on aggregate, as they defeated Billy Dodd’s Caley Thistle 4-0 on the night.
MacPherson bagged the second of the evening, with his long-range effort taking a wicked deflection to completely wrong-foot Inverness keeper Mark Ridgers.
Stevie May, Callum Hendry and Shaun Rooney were the other goalscorers for Callum Davidson’s side.
MacPherson revealed he could not help but drop to his knees once the final two goals went in during the dying moments of the match. And he is determined that there will be no such repeat for Saints next term, with a return to the top six as well as a good cup run among his hopes and ambitions.
He said: “It’s the biggest relief ever. When the third and fourth goals went in, I dropped to my knees. I’m so happy we got it over the line, especially after the first tie when we could have been three or four up.
“It’s the first goal I’ve scored in about a year. I’ll take what I can get though, especially with a deflection.
“We’re the Premiership team, so we were expected to win. No disrespect to Inverness, all the pressure was on us whereas they probably had a bit of a free hit. I thought we dealt with It pretty well over the two legs.
“Personally and collectively it’s been so up and down. We went through a real sticky patch through November and December. Since the turn of the year though, I think we’re sixth in the form table. We’ve had a bit of uplift.
“It’s not been the season we wanted but we’ve finished in the right way. We don’t want to be in this position next year – we want to be fighting for top six and going deep into the cup competitions.
“It’s a good learning curve to be playing under the pressure of nearly being relegated, even although you don’t really want to be in that situation. But it’s a real credit to the club to come through it.
“You want to repay the manager for bringing you into the club. Injuries and form, it’s been a difficult one. Hopefully I’ll come back next year and put a run of games together.”